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Is low-input management system a good selection environment to screen winter wheat genotypes adapted to organic farming?

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Abstract

The move toward resilient and productive agriculture requires, among other innovations, the design of new sustainable farming systems in which the variety plays a main role. Plant breeding strategies adapted to organic farming conditions have to deal with limiting factors. Whereas in north-west France, it is known that trials carried out under high-input management do not give a good prediction of genotype performance in organic conditions, less is known about the relative stability of wheat genotypes between low-input (LI) and organic cropping systems. A retrospective analysis of 34 winter wheat trials conducted from 2004 to 2011 was performed to determine whether data obtained on genotypes grown under LI conditions can be used to predict genotype performance in organic (ORG) target conditions. Every year, ORG and LI (no fungicide or growth regulators, N balance sheet-60 kgN/ha, weed control with herbicides) trials including 25–30 genotypes describing a large range of genetic diversity were sown in three different agro-climatic regions across north-west France. Genotype performance in ORG management system was reduced from 25 to 40 % for yield and from 10 to 22 % for grain protein content. Estimates of genotypic values appeared to be more precise under LI than ORG conditions. Because of high genetic correlations between LI and ORG conditions, the relative efficiency of indirect selection from LI to ORG conditions was approximately 1. Spearman’s rank correlations were high (Rs = 0.54–0.92) and genotype rank inversions generally had a minor extent. However, in 2005 and 2010, almost 50 % of the lines had to be retained in LI to keep 80 % of the top 20 % of genotypes in organic conditions. Compared with previous results from high-input conditions, LI management provided a better prediction of genotype performance under ORG conditions but crossover genotype × management interactions could be observed between both systems. Overall, combining information provided from both LI and ORG crop management systems appears to be a good process for building efficient and adapted breeding schemes for ORG farming conditions.

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Abbreviations

INRA:

French National Institute for Agricultural Research

ORG:

Organic farming

LI:

Low-input

H:

Broad-sense heritability

RSE:

Residual standard error

BIPEA:

French bread-making quality test (NFV03-716)

VCU:

Value for cultivation and use

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to acknowledge the sustainable novel crop material team which contributed to this study: Alain Monnier, Audrey Chaline, Frédéric Brunet, Jean-Pierre Lemonnier, Nathalie Moutier, Patrick Leconte, Patrick Delarue, Samuel Liaigre. We also wish to thank the teams from the INRA experimental units of Auzeville, Lusignan, Le Moulon and Rennes-Le Rheu, and Agri-Obtentions experimental unit for their involvement in these experiments. The authors gratefully acknowledge Melen Leclerc, Philippe Brabant and Anne Laperche for their helpful advice in statistical analysis and Maxime Trottet for his constructive comments in the preparation of this paper. Thank you to Leigh Gebbie for English proof reading. Our studies have also been supported for the last 10 years by the French Technical Institute for Organic farming (ITAB, network coordinated by Laurence Fontaine) and InterBio Bretagne as part of the State-Region (Brittany) Project Contract (CPER network, coordinated by Gerald Cartaud and Stanislas Lubac). We would like to thank Mr Chevalier, Mr Ingrande, Mr Mogis and Mr Pinelli, organic farmers who received INRA on-farm trials in Brittany, Poitou and Ile-de-France regions for 12 years, and for sharing their knowledge and perspectives on agricultural practices.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. INRA, UMR 1349 IGEPP, BP 35327, 35653, Le Rheu, France

    Antonin Le Campion, Jean-Yves Morlais & Bernard Rolland

  2. INRA, UMR 1095 GDEC, 234 avenue du Brézet, 63100, Clermont-Ferrand, France

    François-Xavier Oury

  3. INRA, UE Fourrages et Environnement, BP 80006, 150 route le Chêne, 86600, Lusignan, France

    Patrice Walczak

  4. INRA, UE Grandes Cultures, Auzeville BP 52627, 24 chemin de Borde-Rouge-Auzeville, 31326, Castanet-Tolosan, France

    Paul Bataillon

  5. Agri-Obtentions, Chemin de la Petite Minière, 78280, Guyancourt, France

    Olivier Gardet, Stéphane Gilles & Alexandre Pichard

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  1. Antonin Le Campion
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  2. François-Xavier Oury
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  9. Bernard Rolland
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Correspondence to Bernard Rolland.

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Le Campion, A., Oury, FX., Morlais, JY. et al. Is low-input management system a good selection environment to screen winter wheat genotypes adapted to organic farming?. Euphytica 199, 41–56 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10681-014-1172-7

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